In this video, 22 Things that FAIL After 1 Year Cruising Full Time, we go into detail on all the things on Balachandra that have failed, broken, or given up the ghost on board after a year (and a half) of cruising Full Time in the Caribbean, as well as the maintenance required to keep us going as we live aboard and sail continuously on our sailboat. #sailboatfail #fulltimecruising #sailingchannel #diysailor If you like our videos and want to see more/better videos, more often you can become a patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/sailingbalachandra If you haven't yet SUBSCRIBED and want to see more please click the SUBSCRIBE button above, and be sure to give this video a like! In August of 2017 we sold everything and moved aboard Balachandra, a 1986 C&C44 sailboat, then sailed it over 300 nautical miles to Halifax Nova Scotia to spend a cold Canadian winter in the frozen waters of the North Atlantic. Sailing Balachandra is our YouTube sailing vlog inspired by other great channels such as Delos and La Vagabonde, which documents the sailing adventures of myself and my partner Nawal as we navigate the globe. We also dive into lots of DIY boat projects both above and below decks, and share with you all of the pros and cons of living aboard full time. Sailing Balachandra is published weekly so please subscribe so you don't miss out on future videos! This video was shot with equipment from Optrix by Body Glove, Nikon, Apple, GoPro, and Polaroid Opening Theme Music: License Info: Beautiful Story / Taketones.com Used with a Paid Licence / Permission PURCHASED MUSIC: LINK: https://taketones.com/track/beautiful-story LICENSE N: TTEXTENDED157339559892860327 EXTENDED Special Thanks to our Cuban friends Group Nucay for giving us permision to use to use their album "Tropicalissimo" throughout our YouTube series. Other Music: the YouTube Music Library Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sailingbalachandra Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sailingbalachandra Instagram: http://instagram.com/sailing_balachandra

Closed Captions (CC):
in this video i talk about all of the

things

on balachandra that have failed or

needed to be replaced

sailing and cruising full-time non-stop

since leaving nova scotia and all

throughout the caribbean

last time on sailing bellachandra we

left santiago cuba

and sailed into the archipelago known as

the garden of the queen

if you're new to the channel i'm dan and

my partner is noel and we are sailing

bella chandra

we sailed from nova scotia canada to the

caribbean and we're sailing around the

caribbean currently we are in cuba

if you haven't subscribed to our channel

just go below this video look for the

big red subscribe button and press that

button

in this video i'd like to talk about all

the things that have broken

or needed to be replaced or failed on us

since we left nova scotia

we haven't been really hard on our gear

but there's been some hard sales and

some rough days

and things just do wear out so in this

video i'd like to cover all the things

we can think of that have broken

worn out or needed to be replaced on our

boat since we left nova scotia a

full-time cruising non-stop

from nova scotia to the caribbean and

throughout the caribbean all of the

things that have failed due to

overuse or just rough weather or just

simply

failure due to longevity hopefully this

information can help you out with your

cruising life and give you some idea of

what to expect when you're cruising

full-time in the caribbean

of course with a diesel engine regular

oil changes are absolutely necessary

i honestly do lose count as it is

regular engine maintenance for me

just like owning a car it needs to be

done from time to time

here in the caribbean whenever i see

large quantities of diesel engine oil

for sale for a good price

i always pick it up and store it on

board for the next oil change

i also keep at least one or two one

liter bottles of engine oil around the

boat

in case the engine oil level drops at

any point as having low oil on our

yanmar will lead to low oil pressure

which will make the engine quit

another item of engine maintenance is

the impeller i changed our yanmar's

impeller before leaving nova scotia

roughly just over one year into cruising

we decided that it was a good time to

check the status of the impeller

when i removed the old impeller there

wasn't any serious damage but there was

some creasing on the fins

which indicates that an impeller change

was necessary although i have spares we

were able to buy a brand new impeller

here in the caribbean and we did change

the impeller before arriving in cuba

i changed our myanmar's engine belt

before leaving nova scotia so that we

would have a fresh engine belt for our

trip

this engine belt has lasted well over a

year and is still going strong and i've

adjusted the alternator position to

tighten the belt only once

i feel no need to change this engine

belt yet although it is starting to

slightly squeak

that said i do have extra engine belts

on hand in order to change the belt at

any time if needed

i cleaned and changed our fuel filters

before leaving nova scotia

we have two fuel filters one on the

engine and the other a raycor

filter but now after buying diesel in

several different ports and cruising

full time in the caribbean

the time had come to change our filters

which i did very recently

and found the old filters to be quite

dirty especially the raycor filter

we've had to replace one of our shrouds

since leaving nova scotia

of course carrying a spare shroud with

you is not sensible

and a broken shroud is a good indicator

that your rigging may need to be

replaced

however we knew that our broken shroud

was due to it being too loose

which caused it to fail our standing

rigging is all well within its

serviceable life

however when cruising full time like we

are having something fail in your

standing rigging is always a possibility

it must be considered if you're planning

to live aboard and cruise

full time your running rigging is

constantly being used

exposed to the sun and the salty

environment and these lines do

eventually wear it's a good idea to

carry some

spare lines in case any running rigging

were to fail you would have a line to

replace it

sail repair is probably going to come up

at some point

in your full-time cruising we have an

older 100 jib that has needed to be

repaired several times

and even though our main is quite rock

solid we did have one stitch come out in

the main

during our five day passage from the

usvi's to grenada

luckily a friend of ours was able to

lend us their barracuda sewing machine

and we were able to easily stitch our

main back together it's a good idea to

carry sail repair tape and extra dacron

and if you have one

a sewing awl or even a barracuda sewing

machine so that you can do

spot sale repairs while you're cruising

if your sales are fairly new

chances are you may not have to do any

sale repair for several years

however sales are a disposable item

on a sailboat and they do wear out and

you need to be prepared

i've mentioned this before in other

videos but it's a good idea to carry at

least one

full complete spare running light for

when your running lights fail

and they will fail running lights is

probably one of the highest failure

items on our boat

your seacocks will constantly need to be

exercised

every month or two i go through the

entire boat and make sure that all of

the seacocks

are still moving fluidly and not getting

stuck barnacles and other sea life like

to live inside your seacocks as well

so when scrubbing the hull it's a good

idea to check your seacocks to make sure

they're not clogged with sea life

we've had to replace all of the

connections to our solar panels at least

once during our cruising

exposure to the sun and salt air can

eventually destroy

any electrical connection on the

exterior part of your boat when i

noticed a dramatic dip in our solar

amperage i tried covering each panel

with a blanket to see which one was not

delivering in charge

sure enough one of them did not work i

ended up replacing

all of the connections and now we are

maximizing the power from our solar

panels

this was an unexpected maintenance item

for us but one that we were easily able

to fix

make sure you have a few extra fuse

holders for your solar battery bank

we have fuses all through the boat but

the only fuse that ever seems to fail

is the fuse on our solar connection

that's the connection between the solar

panel regulator

and the 12 volt battery bank it seems

when the engine and alternator are

running there's a surge of power which

meets the solar regulator from the

reverse side

it can cause this fuse to overheat and

melt down one solution

is to purchase a more heavy duty fuse

and fuse holder for this

however we've learned as long as we turn

off our solars before we run our engine

there's no way this charge can build and

cause this fuse to fail

but just in case it's always a good idea

to carry extra fuse holders with you

as you travel our anchor winless switch

has been temperamental from time to time

i've had to remove the switch

and clean the connections inside at

least twice since leaving nova scotia

and cruising the caribbean if you have a

similar windlass switch

you want to be familiar with the

operation and cleaning of the connection

points in case this happens to you

i was able to purchase an entirely

separate windlass switch to outright

replace this one

however i have not needed to do so as

the old switch continues to run

about halfway through our cruising in

the caribbean all of the insides of our

magma marine barbecue had deteriorated

due to exposure and needed to be thrown

away

we were able to purchase magma's

replacement parts and rebuild the inside

of our barbecue another

cruising boat had a brand new magma

barbecue which also failed roughly

around the same time

needing a full replacement of all of the

inside parts if you're going to cruise

with a magma barbecue you may want to

consider purchasing and carrying spare

parts for your barbecue

even though they are made for the marine

environment they do not last

we have two propane regulators on bella

chandra one

for our primary propane tanks which

fuels our galley stove

we also use small camping style barbecue

propane cylinders

on our magma boat bbq both of our

propane regulators failed

after roughly 9 to 12 months into our

full-time cruising this is the first

time i've had a propane regulator fail

on me and i assume it's due to salt

corrosion and the marine

environment however it could simply just

be due to overuse

but we use the galley stove much more

often than we use the barbecue

but both propane regulators failed at

roughly the same time we were lucky to

purchase new propane regulators

in the eastern caribbean as there are

marine stores scattered about and you

can find one

the seals on our jabsco toilets do go

from time to time

it's a good idea to carry extra toilet

seals with you when you cruise full time

doing anything that involves dismantling

the toilet is a nasty job

make sure you have a bottle of bleach

and rubber gloves on hand to clean up

afterwards

but changing some of these toilet seals

is probably going to happen

especially if you plan to cruise for

over a year or more the replacement

seals will be much cheaper to buy

anywhere in the u.s or canada my

recommendation would be to purchase

extra toilet seals before going off to

cruise full time

we've also had to replace some of the

seals in our galley faucet

you don't want your galley faucet to

start dripping on you as depending on

your cruising area fresh water can be

precious and hard to come by you don't

want the water pump to continue running

and lose all your water down the drain

it's a good idea to locate and carry

extra seals for your galley faucet along

with you

as you cruise i like to carry an

abundance of marine grade electrical

connectors with us as we cruise in case

any electrical work needs to be done

for instances where cockpit instruments

need to be worked on or electrical

devices such as fans

fail and need to be replaced these

things will happen and you will find

yourself crimping and heat shrinking

wires

from time to time as you cruise full

time these are essential items and i

would not cruise the caribbean without

well stocking the boat with electrical

connections and extra wiring for

electrical work and replacement

i've gone through literally almost 100

of these heat shrink connectors

since we left nova scotia we've had to

change countless led light bulbs on the

boat

led light bulbs are meant to last longer

than

tungsten light bulbs or halogen light

bulbs however in the marine environment

led light bulbs can corrode and they may

not last that long

we stocked up very well with led light

bulbs before leaving nova scotia

and we have been changing them on all of

our running lights and some of our

interior cabin lights make sure you have

lots of spare led bulbs to change your

old led bulbs as you cruise

we've had to spray our dodger and bimini

many times to keep them waterproof

if your dodger and bimini are new they

are probably very waterproof

but over time the ability for this

canvas to repel water will eventually

degrade

starbrite sells a water repellent

product you can spray on them to restore

it

i would carry at least two bottles of

this spray with you as you cruise

as eventually your dodger and bimini

will begin to drip water

through the canvas the spray works very

well and lasts for several months but it

is a constant maintenance item

we've had at least one red gasoline can

fail on us since leaving nova scotia

you can buy very high quality decent

gasoline cans i think ours was canadian

made

however over time our red gasoline kin

did eventually split open

due to exposure to the elements and

needed to be replaced

be prepared to purchase a new gasoline

can at some point during your cruising

luckily red gasoline cans are easy to

come by and you should be able to find

one

unless you're in a very remote place

we've had lots of issues with outboard

motors and dinghies since leaving nova

scotia

now after cruising for about a year and

a half we're on our second outboard

motor

and most of our friends who are

full-time cruising are also on their

second motor

l4 motors are clearly not meant to be

used every single day

outboard motors do need constant

attention to make sure they continue

running and getting your dinghy from the

boat to the dock to the beautiful beach

and back safely without failing

depending on your motor there are

several maintenance items that you

really need to pay attention to

of course there's oil changes with four

stroke motors and the shaft oil on any

outboard motor

we've had to change the propeller more

than once due to minor impacts

and recently we've had a spun prop on

our five horsepower

two-stroke tahatsu dinghys are also

another high

maintenance item when cruising full time

our dinghy has needed

several repairs we're constantly doing

something to keep our dinghy floating

whether re-gluing the transom

or adding extra supports i've recently

done an entire video on all of the

repairs that we've done to our dinghy

and you can watch it just by clicking

the link above

well that's the end of this week's video

on all the things that have broken

failed or gave up the ghost here on

bella chandra since we left nova scotia

we've been sailing

non-stop cruising all through the

caribbean and we've really figured out

over time what parts of the boat need

special attention and need to be

maintained and watched carefully as not

everything on a cruising boat will last

forever and hopefully this information

will help you out if you ever plan to

cruise full time in the caribbean as

well

thanks for watching if you haven't

subscribed to our channel just go below

this video look for the big red

subscribe button

press that button and if you want you

can leave a like or a comment below

and if you haven't checked out our

patreon page it's always a good time to

do so

patreon is a place where you can give

back if you like what we do and you want

to support us

thanks see you later